Triad Cities

School of the Arts, Furniture Capital of the World and Historic Districts

Greensboro was named after Nathaniel Greene, American general in the Revolutionary War and is the eastern most point of the Triad of NC cities including Winston Salem to the West and High Point to the South. It addition to its being known for its corporate headquarters and quiet life style, the city has been the center of some momentous moments of activism including the cafeteria sit-ins of the 60's for civil rights. Its Historic districts include Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina Historic District, and the Downtown Greensboro Historic District. It has a history of quietly making progress on civil rights including LGBT rights and has a politically vibrant gay business community. The national gay index (based on the percentage of people reporting in the 2000 U.S. Census that they lived in a same-sex partnership) reports that Greensboro is 3 percent about the national average.

Winston Salem was founded by Moravians from Pennsylvania in 1766 and has long been associated with the production of cigarettes by the R. J. Reynolds Corp., the home of Piedmont Airline (now US Airways) and Wachovia Bank. It boasts several colleges and universities including Salem College, Wake Forest University and North Carolina School of the Arts. Its art community is proud of the historic village of Old Salem, the Museum of Anthropology, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, and the Reynolda House - Museum of American Art.

High Point is the "Furniture capital of the world" and known for its many furniture factories, showrooms and trade shows. The city is so named because it was the high point on the rail line between Charlotte and Goldsboro and it was settled in the 1800's by the Quakers. While its gay index (see above) is fourteen points below the national average, during the furniture shows the index escalates to 200 hundred points above it. (PS: just a note of humor and a bit of truth).